13 Key Website Performance Metrics to Ensure Client Success

As the digital world continues to evolve, so does the need for businesses to ensure they’re executing an effective website performance strategy. Achieving success online hinges on being able to monitor and analyze key metrics related to user engagement, search engine visibility, customer service response times, and more.

With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 13 essential website performance metrics that can help organizations stay ahead of their competition in today’s ever-changing landscape. Read on to learn how these key indicators from time-on-page analytics to pages per session data can provide measurable steps towards greatness with every customer interaction your organization executes!

1. Quality of the Site’s Codebase

Websites have become the virtual storefronts of businesses, and their performance is key to attracting and retaining customers. One crucial aspect that impacts website performance is the quality of the site's codebase.

A well-maintained codebase ensures that a website loads faster, has a smoother user experience, and provides better security. Websites with subpar codebases are likely to encounter issues such as long loading times, broken links, and cross-browser compatibility concerns; all of which can impact user engagement and retention.

That's why website performance matters, and why businesses should ensure that their codebase is up to date with the latest standards and optimized for speed to tick all the boxes in terms of website performance and customer satisfaction.

2. Page Speed Performance

In today's digital age, having a website that loads quickly is key to providing a positive user experience. Page speed performance is a crucial website performance metric that measures how quickly a website loads for visitors. A slow-loading website can be frustrating for users and can lead to a decrease in website traffic.

Therefore, website owners need to monitor and optimize their page speed performance. By doing so, they can ensure that their website is running smoothly and efficiently, leading to a better user experience and increased engagement.

3. Time on Page & Bounce Rate

One of the most crucial aspects of managing a website is measuring its performance. You'll want to understand how visitors interact with your pages, and two key metrics to help you do that are time on page and bounce rate. Essentially, time on page looks at how long someone stays on a specific page of your site, while bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only a single page.

To measure these metrics, you'll need to leverage a few tools. The first is Google Analytics, which can provide in-depth insights into how visitors engage with your site.

Beyond that, you can also employ various A/B testing tools and user feedback forms to get a better sense of your website's strengths and areas for improvement. By keeping tabs on time on page and bounce rate, you'll be well on your way to improving your site's performance and user experience.

Further Reading: 13 Tips to Reduce a Website's Bounce Rate and Increase Conversions

4. Mobile Friendliness

In today's world, everyone is constantly on the go, so having a mobile-friendly website is essential. If your website isn't viewable or functioning properly on mobile devices, you could be missing out on a lot of potential traffic and business. It's important to keep in mind why website performance matters - a slow or non-responsive website can turn away potential customers and hurt your credibility.

By ensuring your website is mobile-friendly, you're not only accommodating the needs of your current customers, but you're also opening yourself up to a wider audience. So, take the time to optimize your site for mobile devices and reap the benefits of a seamless user experience.

5. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

This is the amount of time it takes for the largest piece of content on your website to load up on a server request from a user or visitor. Naturally, as with page load times, keeping this time minimal is essential to ensure visitors stay on your website longer and find it useful and engaging.

Image Source: DebugBear

Another important fact to consider is that LCP falls under the list of Google’s Core Web Vitals, meaning this value directly impacts the ranking and eventual categorization of your website in Google’s website ranking algorithm.

If you’re wondering how long an ideal LCP time should be, experts and research suggest keeping it under 2.5 seconds, as that time ensures ideal customer retention and engagement rates for your website.

6. Security & SSL

Ensuring the security of your visitors' data is paramount for any website owner. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by implementing SSL encryption, which effectively encrypts any data that is transmitted between the website and a visitor's browser.

Not only does this provide better website data security, but it also helps to increase trust in your website among your visitors. But how do you measure the performance of your SSL? One critical metric is the speed at which your page loads, which should not be significantly impacted by the SSL encryption.

Additionally, you may want to consider implementing tools that allow you to monitor SSL errors or security vulnerabilities to stay ahead of any potential threats. With these steps in place, you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your visitors' data is secure and your website is performing at its best.

7. Time to First Byte (TTFB)

Have you ever found yourself getting frustrated while waiting for a website to load? The culprit could be the Time to First Byte (TTFB), which is the amount of time it takes for your browser to receive the first byte of information from the web server.

TTFB is a crucial factor in website performance because it affects how quickly users can fully access and interact with websites. In today's fast-paced digital world, users have high expectations for website speed, and slow TTFB can negatively impact user experience and ultimately lead to lost traffic and revenue.

That's why website performance matters and TTFB is an important metric to measure and optimize.

8. Time to Interactive (TTI)

With countless websites available on the internet, businesses must ensure their website stands out from the rest. Website performance metrics, such as Time to Interactive (TTI), play a significant role in achieving this goal. TTI is a measurement of how long it takes for a website to fully load and become interactive for a user.

Image Source: 10Web

It factors in various elements such as images, videos, and scripts. A website with a fast TTI is likely to engage users more successfully than one with a slow TTI. Thus, businesses must pay attention to website performance metrics like TTI to ensure their website provides the best user experience possible.

9. First CPU Idle

In today's digital age, website performance is critical. Visitors expect fast-loading pages and seamless navigation. As a web developer, it's your job to ensure your website performs at its best. One of the essential metrics to measure website performance is First CPU Idle. It's the point at which the CPU is idle enough to process input and doesn't bog down the user's experience.

To measure this, you need to simulate a user's interaction with the website and record the time it takes for the CPU to become idle. By tracking this metric, you'll be able to identify any bottlenecks on your website and improve its performance, ensuring your visitors have a smooth experience.

Further Reading: 8 Tips to Improve the Time Visitors Spend on Your Website

10. Total Page Size

In today's fast-paced digital world, website performance matters more than ever. Total page size is a critical factor to consider when it comes to enhancing the overall user experience. The more data that is being loaded, the slower the website becomes. It may sound insignificant, but even a few milliseconds of delay can cause frustration among users and ultimately lead to decreased traffic.

This is especially true for mobile users who are always on the go and expect immediate access to information. By optimizing the total page size, businesses can not only improve website performance but also increase user engagement and ultimately drive conversions.

11. Number of HTTP Requests

When it comes to monitoring website performance metrics, one important factor to consider is the number of HTTP requests. Each time a user visits a webpage, their browser has to make a request to the server for every element on that page, from images and videos to scripts and stylesheets. This can quickly add up, slowing down website load times and frustrating users.

By keeping an eye on the number of HTTP requests being made, website owners and developers can work to optimize their pages and improve overall performance. After all, a speedy website not only keeps visitors happy but also helps to improve search engine rankings.

12. Max First Potential Delay (Max FID)

As website owners, we all want our pages to load as fast as possible. Slow load times can lead to frustrated visitors and lost business opportunities. So, how can we measure the performance of our website to ensure a speedy user experience? One important metric to keep in mind is the Max First Potential Delay or Max FID. This measures the amount of time it takes for the content on the website to become interactive.

Image Source: DebugBear

In other words, how long does it take for a visitor to be able to click on a button, fill out a form, or interact with any other element on the page? By tracking Max FID, we can identify any potential roadblocks that are slowing down our website and take steps to improve our overall performance.

13. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Have you ever clicked on a website link, only to find that the content keeps shifting around? This can be frustrating for users, and it's all thanks to a website performance metric called Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). CLS measures how much visual stability a website has as it loads, meaning that the less shifting and jumping around the user experiences, the better the website's score.

Image Source: DebugBear

A high CLS score can negatively impact user experience and ultimately turn people away from your site. To ensure that your website provides a smooth and stable user experience, it's important to pay attention to its CLS score and address any issues promptly.

DashClicks’ Website Builder: Creating and Analyzing Websites With Ease

In the realm of website creation and analytics, DashClicks’ website builder stands as an exceptional tool. The platform is designed to help users create stunning, high-performing websites by offering a comprehensive set of features.

With the white label website builder, you can select from a myriad of design templates to build a professional and visually appealing website. These templates are optimized for various industries, ensuring your site aligns with your business goals. Furthermore, the platform provides advanced SEO features to enhance your site's visibility and reach.

The software doesn't just stop at creation; it also allows users to track and analyze their website performance. It integrates with various analytics tools, including Google Analytics, to provide real-time data on key performance metrics. Users can monitor metrics such as time on page, bounce rate, and many others discussed earlier, to optimize their site's performance continually.

With robust security features, mobile optimization, and the ability to monitor SSL performance, the software ensures your website is secure, user-friendly, and performs optimally across all devices. This enables businesses to provide their customers with a seamless digital experience, leading to increased engagement and conversion rates.

By combining website creation and analytics in a single platform, DashClicks simplifies the process, saving time and resources while ensuring the creation of high-quality, high-performing websites.

In Conclusion

Site performance and user experience are crucial factors when it comes to designing websites today. There are many elements to take into consideration when optimizing a website, such as its codebase, page speed, time on page & bounce rate, mobile friendliness, HTTP Requests, security & SSL, time to first byte (TTFB), time to interactive (TTI) First CPU Idle, total page size, number of HTTP requests, max potential delay (Max FID), and cumulative layout shift (CLS).

All of these factors must come together to achieve the maximum optimization possible. As optimized websites become increasingly important in today’s competitive digital landscape, taking the necessary steps to optimize your website can seem overwhelming, but will be key in making sure that your site runs optimally for users.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so you should utilize a combination of the steps mentioned here and use web analytics tools to better monitor changes made over time. As time passes, you can add even more elements as website optimization technologies catch up with current trends in technology.